Havenfell
by TheSarcasticNerevarine
Summary: Everyone knows the story of Frisk. There are some who even know of all the possible timelines. But what happens when two opposing timelines clash, due to the workings of an insane genius? Based on the Haventale and Underfell AUs.
1. Prologue

Rudra set his camera on top of the tripod,careful to not knock it over. He'd spent the better part of an hour balancing it on the rocky terrain, and he wasn't about to undo all that work. He looked through the viewfinder, and was satisified with what he saw.

"Perfect", he thought. might be marked as dangerous for inexperienced climbers, but the photo ops were worth both the trek up and the inevitable hours of waiting for favorable conditions for a descent.

He was returning to his tent to take a drink of water when he heard footsteps.

"Probably another hiker" he thought to himself and dismissed it.

A few minutes later, though, he heard a metallic clang.

That could only mean one thing.

Somebody had gone beyond the hazard barrier.

Cursing, he ran to the barrier, his experience as a freerunner kicking in as he fluidly made his way over the uneven vaulted over the fence and looked around for the intruder.

He swore when he saw them.

A kid. A little kid! They were wearing a purple striped sweater, with brown hair that came down to their looked about 9-10 years old,and he coudn't tell if they were male or female, but that wasn't relevant. It was a long drop if they fell, and they definitely wouldn't suvive.

"Hey! Kid! Get back here! It's dangerous!" He shouted. The kid turned around, their eyes wide with fear, and they ran.

Rudra easily caught up to them, but they'd had enough of a headstart that they were near the cave. They went in and he followed,knowing that they didn't have anywhere else to go.

He saw them stop at the edge, hesitate and slowly turn around to face him.

"Look, kid, I know you were curious, but the hazard sign was there for a reason. Just come with me and I'll take you down to the camp, all right? Your parents are prob-"

He didn't get to finish. As soon as the word 'parents' came out, the kid got alarmed, turned-and promptly stumbled. He dived for them, only to trip himself.

Suddenly, the kid was in his arms and they were falling.

"Fuck", Rudra thought.


	2. And they all fall down

**ARC ONE: ERROR!**

 **Chapter One: And they all fall down.**

They were falling.

The kid seemed too petrified to even scream, and Rudra's head was filling with increasingly ludicrous plans to somehow walk away alive and unharmed.

He didn't know whether to laugh at himself or be terrified of the inevitable.

He could see the ground now. Light was coming in through cracks in the side of the mountain, and they highlighted a patch of pink flowers, which seemed to be placed just right to catch them.

 _Well_ , he thought dryly, _I get to be covered in flowers in death at least._

And then they hit the patch.

* * *

It hurt.

To be precise, the left half of his body hurt.

Rudra woke up with a start, coughing and groaning as he pulled himself up. The kid seemed to be looking at him anxiously, and disoriented as he was, he could tell that they were relieved that he was alive.

Alive.

 _What do you know,_ he thought. _Both of us survived._

He pulled himself up to a standing position- it hurt like hell, but he was able to do it. Assessing the damage, he determined that he had a broken arm and a few bruises, but nothing serious. The kid seemed to be unharmed bar a few scratches, and that was good. He wasn't much of a medic.

"Hey, kid... What's your name?"

They hesitated for a moment before whispering "Frisk... My name is Frisk."

"Well Frisk," Rudra grinned," We're going to have to find a way out. Stick with me, OK?"

"OK" they replied, rather mousily.

Grimacing, he and the kid made his way down the hall- they seemed to be in ruins of some kind, which was strange.

 _Where did these come from?_

They entered a hallway which had a solitary pink flower in the middle. Ignoring it, they walked to the door on the far side.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

They jumped. Slowly turned around to see that the flower had a face. And was grinning at had clung to Rudra as soon as it started talking, and it didn't seem like they were going to let go anytime soon.

"Uh... Hi?" Rudra ventured.

"You're new to the underground, ain't ya. Well, let me tell- Wait you're injured!"

"We just fell down a mountain... uh,... Flowey. We're lucky to be alive."

"Wait here! I'm going to get help!" And with that, Flowey disappeared into the ground.

Rudra and Frisk just looked at each other, befuddled. "So... that just happened" Rudra said. "Yeah" Frisk replied. They both just stood there, not quite sure as to their next course of decided to trust the flower and wait- it would be better for him if he rested for a while anyway.

After around 20 minutes(according to Rudra's phone, which sadly, had no bars) they heard footsteps and voices.

"You sure they're here, Flowey?"

"Yes, Prince Asriel, I'm sure!"

 _ **Prince**_ _Asriel? This flower has connections,huh?_

"Geez, Azzy, there's really no reason for it to lie"

 _Female voice. Princess? Possibly, given the familiar way she addressed the prince._

Then they came into view. A girl, around his age, and a bipedal goat in robes.

The girl looked like an aged up Frisk, except definitely female, with noticeable curves and hair that went to mid back. She was wearing a red t-shirt with a logo of some sort on it- the goat had the logo on his robes as well, Rudra realized. Her midriff was exposed, and she had knee length leggings with a black jacket tied around her waist. Her ensemble was completed by flower bracelets on her wrists, and as they came closer, Rudra noticed that her eyes were a soft shade of red.

The goat was wearing royal purple robes with white sleeves and pants, had bright gold eyes, and appeared rather anthropomorphic. It..he was taller than Rudra by a few inches, and seemed kind of lanky.

They looked at each other for a few minutes, sizing each other up. It was the girl that broke the silence.

"Hey. I'm Chara, and this doofus is my brother, Asriel" she said, extending her hand.

"Rudra", he said, going to meet her hand" and the kid is Frisk".

Asriel had been studying them carefully, and finally opened his mouth. "Your injuries aren't too severe, luckily. We can heal them while showing you how to manipulate your SOUL."

"My soul?" Rudra asked, confused.

Asriel nodded, and suddenly Rudra felt the world go grayscale, and felt something being pulled out of him.

It was a heart- a stereotypical heart- glowing bright silver with a reddish tinge. He looked to Frisk, and saw that Chara had pulled out Frisk's soul as well, which was a normal red.

"That is your SOUL" Asriel began."Us monsters are capable of using magic, which will affect your SOUL in various ways, depending on what you do. I'll give you an introduction on the basics, but each monster has their own, unique magics which you'll have to watch for."

Rudra just nodded. He'd heard of monster magic before, in history class, but to experience it was something else.

"The most common is White magic" Asriel explained, surrounding Rudra with white flames."Monsters won't attack you with the intent of hurting you,but they may get excited and start throwing this about. It comes in many shapes, and all you need to do is avoid it so as not to get hurt." He threw some of the fire at Rudra, who found out that the heart moved with him, or alternatively, he could just will it to move.

"The next is Blue magic" Asriel continued."As long as you stay still, this magic will not affect opposite of blue magic is Orange, where you need to be moving in order to avoid damage." Asriel took out a sword and proceeded to demonstrate these to Rudra, who got hit by an Orange attack.

"And lastly, we have Green magic. Green magic heals you, so feel free to touch it all you want."Asriel created a ring of green fire, and Rudra touched it. He was amazed-he could feel his arm getting repaired, and once the ring was done, he was completely fine.

"You've probably noticed the buttons at the bottom. Select 'MERCY' and 'SPARE' to end this encounter." Asriel instructed. Rudra did as he was told, and he felt the color return to the world. He looked for Frisk and found them kind of awestruck, looking at a grinning Chara.

"Kiddo was spellbound by magic. I think he's gonna like it here." Chara said. "Rudra took rather well, too." Asriel said, and walked off."Follow me."

Chara walked over to Rudra and beckoned him to come with. "Azzy can be a little scholarly and formal at times, but let him get used to ya. He's really nice. And sorry for just dumping that tutorial on you, but we'd rather you knew what to do rather than figure it out on your own and mess something up" she said. "Thanks for the vote of confidence" Rudra replied dryly.

"No problem"Chara offered. "And oh! I almost forgot!"

Rudra raised an eyebrow at her.

"Welcome to the Underground!"


	3. Underground

**Chapter Two: Underground**

"The Underground? That's what you're calling this place?" Rudra asked.

Chara laughed. "Dad isn't the best at names." She said. "The town we're going to was the first area settled by monsters, and he just called it 'Home'. The current city where most of us live , is 'New Home'." she finished, with an amused grin.

Rudra chortled. "This should be in the school syllabus about monsters. A lack of creativity."

"Uh huh" Chara responded. She sighed, and asked "Rudra, just what do they teach about monsters"?

"Hmm? Oh. They mainly talk about the war, and why the humans started it. While they mention that the monsters were sealed away, the entrances , and the exact location, is classified" Rudra explained. "Only the Mages' Collective knows the precise location- and well, me and Frisk now."

"Why were you at Ebott then?"

"Dunno about the kid. I usually go up Ebott for taking photos."

Chara sighed again. "You do know you're stuck here, right? That there's no way out?"

Rudra just hummed non-commitally. "So, when did you fall in ?"

"120 years ago."

"Oh, cool,- WHAT?"

"You heard me."

"You look my age!"

"It's exposure to monster magic. I've chosen not to age beyond this, and I won't till I have kids."

"..."

Frisk tugged on Rudra's sleeve. "What is it, kiddo?"

"I'm thirsty." They said, softly.

"Hey Chara, the kid's thirsty. Got some water on you?"

"No, but we're nearly there."

"You heard the lady, kid. Just hold on for a few minutes."

Frisk nodded, and resumed walking by their side.

Rudra's head was spinning. He did not sign up for this. The Underground was nuts. He had to find a way out. The monsters might be nice, but he couldn't stay here. He'd take it slow, though- he could afford to spend a few weeks getting info.

He'd heard of the rumors surrounding Ebott. The Mages' Collective didn't particularly care about them, but then again, nobody cared for magic much in human society these days. Technology was far more efficient. And for the first time, he started to wonder just what was up with Frisk. The kid was behaving really strangely.

He pushed those thoughts to the back of his head, for now. Frisk's mental health was not really his concern.

As they approached Home, Rudra saw what appeared to be a glowing yellow star near an old tree. It seemed out of place- almost ... pixelated.

"Hey, Chara-"

"Go to it and see for yourself. I'm not quite sure how to explain it."

"Umm-"

"I know you're asking about the star."

"OK"

He went up to it and touched it.

The world around him faded to black, air whooshing, and a dialog box ( _Why is this coming off like a videogame?)_ appeared in front of him.

SAVE. LOAD. FILES.

Curious, he touched SAVE, and was briefly blinded by a flash. On regaining his sight , he noticed the box had changed.

RUDRA, LV 1

SAVE. LOAD. FILES.

 _Level 1?_ He thought to himself in confusion. He decided to check the files, and saw a list of 7 names.

CHARA

DAVID

MIKO

HARISH

VALERIE

BARTHOLOMEW

RUDRA.

He exited the interface, and was suddenly face to face with a grim Chara.

"What was that?"

"That, Rudra, is the Timeline Interface. Only the humans in the Underground can use it."

"So, all those other names-"

"Yes. They're all like you and me- they fell down the hole on Ebott at some point."

"So, what does it _do?_ " He asked.

"It basically allows us to control time-and see our LV."

"Yeah, what was that? Level?"

"Sort of. It stands for Level of VIolence- just how willing you are to hurt, or kill someone else. A level of 1 is the normal- you're a normal person."

"Huh"

Rudra's head was swimming with all this new information. In a moment of clarity, he beckoned to Frisk, and asked Chara to explain to Frisk while he processed it.

This- this was dangerous. _The power to control time, in essence._

"Rudra." Chara's tone held a note of unusual seriousness to it. "It is vital that no-one else knows about this. _No-one._ "

"S-Sure." He mumbled.

His life had just become far more complex than he'd ever anticipated. He could hold a secret.


	4. Goat Moms and Puzzling Spaghetti

**Chapter Three: Goat Moms and puzzling spaghetti**

The town of Home was a small, quaint place. It mostly had small, frog-like creatures("Froggits. They're harmless.") and a few other bug-like monsters.  
The ruins around it gave the city a rustic feel, and for the first time since falling down, Rudra felt a sense of peace. Frisk had a gentle smile on their face as well, it seemed they were calming down too.

"We'll stay here for a day, then we leave for Snowdin tomorrow. It'll give you a chance to settle down." Chara said.  
"Sure. That works out fine." Rudra was distracted a bit by the glyphs on the ruins, and wondered if the monsters had their own focused on the little group once again, and realized that Asriel was missing.  
"Hey, where did Asriel go?"  
"Teleported away. Presumably to get supplies."  
"HE CAN TELEPORT!?"  
"Only himself. Sans and Gaster-you'll meet them later- can move whole groups."  
"WHU-!?"  
Chara laughed."Get used to it, man."she said."Monsters use magic far more efficiently than humans do."  
"You don't say" Rudra mumbled. Maybe he'd take longer than he thought to adjust.

"So,how is human magic? I mean, I know about the barrier, but what else?"

"Well, the Mages' Collective is the main organization that controls and regulates mages worldwide" Rudra said.  
"An easy task, considering how few of them there are. Human magic... is difficult to learn. And even then, the scope is limited- technology does far more efficiently what was once possible through magic. That doesn't mean magic is completely useless, though. There are still some things which only magic can do, such as some advanced healing procedures, near impenetrable barriers, and extremely effective self defense." Rudra finished.

"You seem to know a lot about it."  
"Well, I'm a bit of a geek" Rudra embarrassedly defended.  
"That's nothing to be ashamed of " Chara said, bursting into giggles.

 _Huh, her laugh is cute._ Rudra thought.

Wait.

 _No no no no no no dammit brain I cannot afford to fall for her who cares that she has a great body or that those eyes are mysteriously hot or -_  
 _DAMN IT, NO._

"Rudra? You OK?"  
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just spaced out a bit there" He said, trying not to look in her direction.  
Chara quirked an eyebrow."If you say so."

 _Fuck you, brain. Fuck you._

"Well, here we are! Our house!"  
Rudra looked up the flight of stairs- it was a rustic, spacious little bungalow, looking almost like a house from an old comic about country life.  
"Looks... quaint."  
"Quaint? That's an odd way to describe it"  
"Not really. Modern architecture is... different."  
Frisk had stepped closer to Rudra, and was now apparently trying to merge with him.  
"Uh, kid, what are you doing?"  
"I'm scared."  
"Of what?"  
They didn't respond- they just wrapped their arms around him and refused to let go.  
Rudra looked at them oddly, then sighed and picked them up.  
"Let's go in, Chara."  
She nodded, and they went up the stairs.

* * *

When they entered the house, they were assaulted by the conflicting smells of burnt spaghetti sauce and butterscotch.

Chara brightened." Looks like Azzy bought Mom, and Papyrus!"  
At that moment, a deep, yet female, voice rang out: "Chara, my child, is that you?"  
"Hey mom! Come out here and greet our guests!"  
"On my way, child. The pie is almost done."  
"YOUR MAJESTY! DON'T TOUCH THAT WITH YOUR BARE-OH, FIRE MAGIC! THE GREAT PAPYRUS SEES HOW THAT WOULD PREVENT BURNS!"

Rudra almost did a double take. He could have sworn he heard the other voice talk in a font.

"Hey Paps! " Chara called out cheerfully." Get your bones over here!"  
"IS THAT THE PRINCESS? IT IS! AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS, I SHALL OFFICIALLY WELCOME THE NEW HUMANS!"

An anatomically incorrect, tall skeleton burst into the room, arms wide open, and ran straight into Rudra. The two of them tumbled on the floor together, a wild mess of arms, "WTF?!"s, and "Nyeh"s.

Chara and Frisk were both laughing at the spectacle, and Rudra groaned.

"Yeah, it's one of you untangle me from here?"

A still giggling Frisk helped extricate Rudra, and he got up and dusted himself off while Chara helped up the skeleton.

"GREETINGS HUMAN! I APOLOGIZE FOR MY CLUMSINESS! I,THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU WITH THE MOST AMAZING SPAGHETTI YOU HAVE EVER EATEN! BUT IN THE MEANTIME, IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU!"

Rudra just stared at Papyrus for a minute. "Uh, hi, uh, Papyrus. I'm Rudra. Nice to meet you too."

At that moment, a tall goat woman- around 7 feet at least, Rudra thought- entered.

She was wearing a grey blazer, with a navy blue skirt and had a pair of glasses, with a rectangular frame.  
"Greetings, my child. I am Toriel, the Queen of the Underground, and if I'm not mistaken, your name is Rudra, yes?"  
"Uh, yes Your Majesty."  
"Oh, don't be so formal. I'd much prefer you called me Toriel, or , if you insist on formality."

\  
"OK, Toriel." Rudra said, smiling. This woman gave off a maternal vibe, and he liked her already.

"And this little one must be Frisk." she said, turning to them.  
Rudra looked at Frisk, and knew something was wrong. They were rigid, and he noticed that their eyes were slightly rolling back.  
"SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE PURPLE HUMAN YOUR MAJESTY!"

Everyone sprung into action at once, Rudra checking Frisk's pulse, Chara carrying them to a sofa, and both Papyrus and Toriel preparing green attacks.  
Frisk suddenly sprung up and clung tightly to Rudra, sobbing incoherently.  
"It's all right kid, it's all right. Let it all out." Rudra soothed them.  
They sobbed into Rudra's shirt for a couple minutes, until Toriel gently knocked them out.

Rudra arranged Frisk comfortably, and stepped back.

"Chara, child, didn't you heal the little one?" Toriel's tone was reproachful.  
"I did, Mom! I-"  
"Then why did that happen?"  
"I-"

"It wasn't something physical" Rudra interjected."That was a panic attack."

"What could have caused it? You think- I could have set it off? "

"No- I think it just fully struck them that they're trapped underground." Rudra said.

"Look- there's nothing we can do. We wait for them to wake up, and calmly explain."  
The group in the room nodded, accepting Rudra's decision.

"In the meantime, why don't you eat something and rest, my child? You must be tired" Toriel offered.  
Rudra wearily nodded, and said" I think I'll sleep a little first. I'm not that hungry."

Toriel nodded, and led Rudra to the guest room. He didn't pay much attention to the decor- he just plopped onto the bed and instantly fell asleep.


	5. Icy dreams and fiery puns

**Chapter four: Icy dreams and fiery puns**

Rudra woke up lazily; Yawning, he stretched and got out of the bed. He was disoriented for a second, but then remembered where he was . He took a good look at the room: It had a soft shade of blue paint, and several finger paintings adorned the wall. There was a shelf containing glassware, all of which was in strange shapes; Rudra hypothesized that they were statuettes of various monsters.

"Good morning, my child."

Rudra jumped;he hadn't heard Toriel come in. "Ah, good morning, . How long was I out?"  
"Nearly 10 hours. We decided to let you sleep since you arrived somewhat late last night."  
Rudra gave a half-grin, and thanked her.

"By the way, how's Frisk?"  
"The little one has calmed down, and seems to be in a much better mood. Though they are very quiet."  
"That's good" Rudra said, nodding. The kid's behavior was making a fuzzy sort of sense to him, and he didn't like what it implied. He decided to keep his concerns to himself though.

He looked around for his things and found his phone missing. Toriel seemed to realize this, as she quickly spoke up before he could ask. "Ah, Chara took your phone, dear. She said she wanted to hear the new surface music."  
"Oh. Did she get past the lock?"  
"Lock?" Toriel asked. Then a look of understanding came on her face. "Oh, so that's why she called " she said.

"One of best electricians and scientists."  
"Huh."

Rudra shrugged. He didn't have anything particularly incriminating on that phone. "So ,what's for breakfast?" he asked, smiling.  
"Oh! How silly of me! Come, child" beckoned Toriel, and they left the room.

* * *

Chara was enjoying herself. She was pleasantly surprised to see that Rudra had a substantially large and varied collection of songs, nearly 800, across multiple genres. There were even some in other languages.

She was listening to a band he seemed to be fond of, called Poets of the Fall. They certainly deserved the 'Poets' moniker; their lyrics were quite good.

As she let the music play in the background, her thoughts drifted to him. He was definitely interesting, and she could tell that he was hiding something. He knew a lot of information, conveniently, and wasn't as fazed by magic as she'd expected him to be. And it didn't hurt that he was handsome.

 _There I go again_ , she thought wryly to herself. She'd been talking normally to him, and then suddenly couldn't stop thinking about how amazing he looked and sounded. She groaned, she really didn't want to have a crush. Her life flowed smoothly without romance.

She idly wondered if he was attracted to her too, and disappointedly decided he probably wasn't, since he knew how old she was.

She changed the song to an instrumental she'd skipped earlier, deciding to listen to it fully this time, and closed her eyes and let herself be swept up in the music.

* * *

Could they all be trusted?

Rudra seemed nice, but would that just turn out to be a mask?

They had seen it. The darkness. The twisted grins. The manic laughter.

They saw Toriel as she was, _and_ as she was.

The schoolteacher and the psycho.

Ironically , the psycho seemed safer. They knew how to deal with THAT.

 _"Come my child," she had said, one hand on the broken horn, a wild gleam in her eyes."I only wish to give you a painless death."_

Frisk shook themselves back to the present. They were being carried by Papyrus to Snowdin; Chara had said that Rudra was fine, and that they could go on ahead. Papyrus was saying something about cooking lessons and royal gaurds, but Frisk didn't particularly care.

Were they safe? Could all these people be trusted?

 **"Human. Don't you know how to greet a new pal?"**

The surprisingly deep voice shook Frisk out of their reverie, and they were suddenly face to face with a short, grinning skeleton. They gave a squeak of surprise, and embarassedly reached to meet his(its?) outstretched hand.  
"Sorry" they said. "I'm Frisk."  
"I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton. Ice to meet ya."  
Frisk just looked at Sans for a second, baffled. Ignoring Papyrus's rant in the background, they looked around to see that they were, in fact, surrounded by snow and ice. Then, Sans's pun hit them.

They giggled.

They stopped suddenly, but couldn't control themselves, and started laughing.  
"You're funny" they told Sans.  
"Heh. That's what they tell me, kid." Sans said, winking, while Papyrus went on in the background about how the new human had already been corrupted.

Frisk gave a soft smile. Maybe things would be different here, nightmares aside.

Maybe.

* * *

Muffet gave a contented sigh as she watched her spiders efficiently go about the bakery. She had expanded from the Hotlands to Snowdin and New Home, and she was raking in a steady income.

She'd changed her style from 'nursery rhyme' to 'urban chic' ; a piece of advice she was forever grateful to Mettaton for. Her hair was much easier to manage as it was now; neck length straight with two bangs, than when she had the pigtails.

She slipped on a tshirt and bermuda shorts and went to the counter, ready for another day. As she went about her business, she thought about the hot news circulating around the Underground: Two new humans had fallen down. Chara had phoned her earlier and talked about them for a while; the older of the two, Rudra, was apparently quite charming.

She gave a small, fanged grin; he'd probably already realized the monsters were harmless, but he definitely wouldn't expect flirting. His reaction would be amusing to watch.

She stretched, and dismissed her thoughts; it could wait till he actually showed up here.

* * *

"That was delicious. You're an amazing cook."

"Thank you, my child" Toriel said with a note of pride."Just leave the dishes be, I'll get them later."  
Rudra nodded,and set the plate down." How about we get to Snowdin?"

Toriel nodded, and she beckoned him to leave.  
"The others have already left. We've agreed to meet at Grillby's."  
"I presume that's a restaurant?"  
"Yes. Now come on."

Rudra was in high spirits for some reason; he decided to just savor it instead of analyzing.

"Let's go."

He walked on ahead, and let Toriel close the door behind him. 


	6. Enter Error

**Chapter 5: Enter Error**

The journey to Snowdin was uneventful for the most part. Toriel and Rudra had exchanged some polite conversation, but soon fell into a comfortable silence. Rudra had been briefly terrified by Greater Dog, but he quickly realized it was only playful.

As they neared the town, Rudra voiced a question that had been bothering him for sometime.

"So, , just how large is the Underground?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's larger than it seems, dear." Toriel said. " There aren't many monsters, but while this cavern is spacious, it's not big enough. So, we went the only place possible."

"Where?"

"Even deeper underground." Toriel continued." The part of Home you saw was only the top; all of our areas have several layers going deeper and deeper. Snowdin, for example, has 8, not including the sewage and power level."

"Wow." Rudra murmured. But it made sense, nearly all the monsters had been banished after the war. It was simple logistics.

"So, what would be your net population? I mean, you mentioned that the total surface area can be explored in a day. That's at best the size of a small city. Even including the subterranean layers, it can't be all that big."

"True. There are around 100,000 of us, at best."

Rudra whistled. That was barely the population of Ebott City.

They had entered Snowdin by this point; Rudra was getting a few curious looks. He marveled at the sheer variety in monster physiology: apart from the Froggits and the Dreemurrs, no two monsters looked alike. He briefly wondered how monster evolution worked, and if there was even such a thing as basic monster biology.

Toriel gently tapped on his shoulder. "We're here, my child."

Rudra turned around; Grillby's appeared to be a nice, homey, 2 story building. It was made out of wood, and he could see a chimney through which a small stream of smoke was merrily puffing.

He went in with Toriel, and was immediately greeted by a cacophony of voices.

"Your majesty!"  
"ARF ARF!"  
"Looks like a city slicker, that one."  
"The surface does have ho-hot guysss! Yay!"

 _Wait, what?_

Toriel took him by the hand and led him straight to the back, where there was a man who looked serious and impressively built. The impression of muscles especially impressed Rudra, since the man seemed to be made out of fire.

"Have they all arrived, Grillby?"

The man nodded, almost imperceptibly, and gestured towards a flight of stairs. He briefly focused on Rudra, and nodded again. Rudra nodded back, unsure of what else to do.

"Thank you, Grillby." Toriel continued to lead Rudra; he gently removed his hand and followed her upstairs.  
They came onto a landing with a door; Toriel asked him to freshen up if he wanted. After a mild adjustment to his hair, Rudra gave his OK, Toriel then went inside.

Not sure as to why he was suddenly nervous, he opened the door and walked in.

His eyes were instantly drawn to the person sitting at the center of the table. He was tall, at least 9 feet, Rudra decided, with a powerful, well built frame that would look at ease on a battlefield or a ballroom. He had an impressive beard, and longish hair that was tied in a ponytail. He had the same goatlike features of Asriel, which led Rudra to surmise that this was the third Dreemurr. His eyes had a powerful gaze, and seemed to penetrate Rudra.

Rudra looked around the room, Chara waved to him, as did Frisk, who seemed slightly uncomfortable. Asriel gave him a small nod, and Toriel an encouraging smile.

The other side of the room contained a veritable multicultural hodgepodge. The other humans- they must have all gathered on hearing about him and Frisk.  
Rudra grinned; his nervousness vanished.

"Hi, everyone." He bought his hand to his head in a two-finger salute.

"Nice to meet ya!"

* * *

Error watched Rudra with interest. His actions so far had confirmed Error's suspicions- that boy did indeed appear to be the catalyst to create the perfect timeline.

But the other one... _Frisk_... they had always been the fly in the ointment, and in this dimension too, they were attracting... _unwanted_ influences.

Error sighed, and decided to leave it be. If he was correct about Rudra, the problem would solve itself.

He would have to make contact soon though. The most important part of the plan had to be kicked off, after all.

* * *

There was a lively air to the upper floor of Grillby's. The other humans had taken quickly to Rudra, and had realized that Frisk just wanted some quiet. Harish and Rudra had hit it off almost instantly, as had Miko. Asgore- the tall goat man- was introduced to Rudra as the king, but Rudra quickly came to see him in the same vein as Toriel, as a sort of parental figure.

The other humans, with the exception of Bartholomew and Valerie, were all like Chara- they appeared to be about 19-20ish. Bartholomew, for some reason, decided to stay 10, as had Valerie.

As the night progressed, Rudra started to feel a sense of unease. There was something watching them- no, watching him. He dismissed it as a curious monster at first, but the feeling grew stronger as the night went on.

It was with a sense of relief that he finally said his goodbyes, at around 11:00 in the night. It had been decided that he and Frisk were staying with the Skeleton Trio (Papyrus, and two other people called Sans and Gaster) for the night, and they would move for New Home tomorrow.

He was walking with David to the tunnels, when he felt an icy hand on his neck.  
He whipped around, but there was no one there. Frisk had been startled by his sudden movement, though, and looked at him questioningly. Rudra just shook his head.

This was starting to get dangerous.

* * *

Rudra stared at David.

"What?"

"You really think I'm going to jump down that?"

"Trust me on this, man! This is the fastest way to get to the Residential Level!"

"I'll take my chances with the elevator, thanks."

Frisk had been staring exasperatedly at the both of them for the past half an hour. They decided to end the debate, and jumped down the tunnel.

Rudra and David just looked at the entrance blankly for a second.

"Damn that kid." Rudra said and jumped down himself, followed by David.

* * *

They were freefalling, and Rudra was in the middle of giving Frisk a scolding, when he felt himself suddenly come to a stop and start hovering.

"Heh. Paps said you'd stop by, but I didn't think you'd be _falling_ for me."

Rudra slowly raised his head to see a short, chubby(How is that even possible?) skeleton with a wide grin and lazy eyes, wearing a dark blue hoodie. He sighed, and said "Please don't pun-ish me. I'm not done yelling at the kid."

The skeleton chortled, and Rudra could almost hear David's facepalm.  
"You're alright, buddy." the skeleton said, extending his hand. "I'm Sans."  
"Rudra" he said, going to meet Sans's hand.

Frisk seemed happy to see the skeleton; perhaps they'd already met.

"Come on. This is the residential level. Paps is home, but Gaster's staying overnight at the core."

There was no snow here, but there was still a chill to the cavern. It was well lit though, and for that Rudra was grateful.

"We've cleaned up the guest room, and bought out a spare bedroll. You're having breakfast here, and Chara will come by to pick you up."

Rudra nodded in acquiescence, and stayed quiet. The feeling of being watched had returned- and Frisk was starting to notice it too.

* * *

The skeleton's home was a simple affair, and Rudra had insisted that Frisk take the bed. They seemed surprised, but were grateful. Rudra settled into the bedroll, which was quite comfortable itself, and snoozed off.

He was woken up by a small cry. Looking around, he could see that Frisk appeared to be in the throes of a nightmare. He went over to the kid, and took them in his arms to comfort them.

He was suddenly falling, and Frisk was running away. His instincts warned him of danger, so he quickly rolled to the side, just in time to avoid a large bone.  
He sprang up, and was face to face with... Papyrus?

No, this wasn't Papyrus. This looked like his stereotypical evil twin.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHO DARES DISTURB THE HUNT OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS?"

 _What._

Evil Papyrus(as Rudra dubbed him) prepared a large array of bones, and shot it at Rudra. Rudra tried to move, but found he was stuck; his SOUL suddenly seemed very heavy.

There was a bright flash, and suddenly he was in the room again, with a sobbing Frisk repeatedly mumbling "I'm sorry".

Rudra took a deep breath, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"You have your work cut out for you, huh?"

The voice was strangely electronic, and Rudra quickly took a guarded position. The creature that had suddenly appeared looked like Sans, but Rudra's every instinct told him that this one was dangerous, abnormal. He was a shade of cobalt blue, with red eyes, and appeared to have digital glitches hovering around him.

"You. You're the one that's been watching me."

"Ah, you noticed?" The creature seemed pleased. "Well, Catalyst, you're further along than I expected. This world must be fixed, and you are the one to do it. But first take care of that little issue involving _them_ , or I shall kill them." it said, gesturing toward Frisk.

"Who are you? What the hell are you talking about?"

"All in good time, all in good time. But for now, know that my name is Error." So saying, the creature apparently blinked out of existence.

Rudra was left clutching a still sobbing Frisk, and in the darkness of the room, his path forward suddenly seemed bleak.


	7. Talk to the (man who speaks in) hand(s)

**Chapter 6: Talk to the (man who speaks in) hand(s)**

Rudra woke up suddenly; he looked around for a brief second in a wild panic before settling down. He saw that he was still holding the kid, who seemed to be fast asleep.

Gently setting Frisk down, he went to the bathroom to freshen up.

"What was up with the kid?"

Rudra jumped; he had not heard Sans come in.

He sighed, wondering if he should tell Sans what had happend.

He decided against it.

"They had a bad nightmare. Took a while to get them to calm down."

Sans nodded, seemingly satisfied with this explanation.

"Well, get them to wake up. It's pretty late. Gaster's already here, and Chara will be here soon." Sans then turned, and in a blue flash, teleported out.

Rudra went over and woke up the kid,who got up, yawning. They looked at Rudra sleepily, with half-open eyes (Rudra noticed that their eyes were an unusual but beautiful shade of yellow-green) and suddenly jerked upright in panic. They calmed down when they realized when they were no longer in danger, and looked at Rudra quizzically.

"Go and freshen up, kid. Chara'll be here to pick us up soon."

Frisk nodded, and headed off to the bathroom. Rudra decided to go downstairs.

He was greeted by the pleasant smell of toast, and went into the kitchen, greeting an energetic Papyrus, who was wearing an apron, and appeared to be cooking.

"Hello" a voice that seemed to echo itself said from behind him.

He turned around to see a new skeleton. It appeared to be his height, and had strangely shaped eyes, both of which had a crack running down the sides. It was dressed in a dark, full length suit, with a grey scarf wrapped around its neck. As the skeleton extended his hand for a shake, Rudra noticed there was a hole where the palm was supposed to be.

Rudra met his hand."Hi. Nice to meet you. I presume you're Gaster?"

The skeleton nodded. "And you're Rudra."

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and Rudra got an unnerving feeling that Gaster knew a lot of things he wasn't supposed to. The impasse was broken by Papyrus yelling his greetings to Frisk, who had come down by this point.

Frisk looked at Gaster curiously for a few seconds, then turned his attention to the food. Rudra decided to follow, and sat down for breakfast.

After they were done, Papyrus told Frisk and Rudra to follow him.

"I HAVE GOT A SURPRISE FOR THE BOTH OF YOU! THE GREAT PAPYRUS BELIEVES YOU WILL BE PLEASED!"

Rudra was curious, as was Frisk. They followed Papyrus to his room.

"BEHOLD! I HAVE GOTTEN YOU NEW CLOTHES!"

Rudra blinked in surprise; he hadn't expected that. But then he realized that both his and Frisk's clothes were mildly torn and bloodstained.

"Thanks, Paps. But how did you know our sizes?" Rudra asked, smiling.

"I JUST HAVE AN EYE FOR THESE THINGS! NYEH HEH HEH!"

Rudra took the ones meant for him; a plain, navy blue, half-sleeved shirt, and a pair of black cargo pants. He had to admit, Papyrus had good taste.

He turned to see what Frisk had gotten, and saw them crying. Papyrus had a disappointed expression on his face, as though he had failed them.

"Hey kid, what's-"

Frisk suddenly hugged Papyrus, mumbling "Thank you" over and over again.

While a baffled Papyrus attempted to calm Frisk down, Rudra turned to look at Gaster, who had a contemplative expression on his face and was facing him. Rudra's and Gaster's eyes narrowed simultaneously; he knew they had both come to the same conclusion, and they didn't like it.

Rudra went over and gently extricated Frisk.

"Alright, buddy, why don't you go the bathroom and change? We need to be leaving soon."

Frisk nodded, and went to change. Asking the skeletons for some privacy, Rudra changed himself. The new clothes were really comfortable.

Frisk came out in their new clothes: they were now dressed in a black Tshirt with a big red pixel heart on the center, and brown ruffled their hair ."Don't you look adorable" he said, as they blushed and looked away.

He walked out of the room, only to be instantly slammed to the wall. His body suddenly felt very heavy, and he found himself surrounded by floating, canineish skulls. Gaster was suddenly in his face.

"I'm a fairly easygoing guy" He began," but I do not like those who abuse children."

Gaster's eyes glowed menacingly; one blue, one orange.

Rudra shook his head, and said. "You've got the wrong idea, man. The first time I saw this kid was a couple of days ago, when I tried to save him from falling down."

Gaster glared at Rudra for a few seconds; and his eyes slowly lost their glow. The skulls disappeared as well.

"Good. I would not have hesitated to take... extreme measures, if you were in anyway a threat to us." He let the threat hang in the air.

Rudra took a deep breath,and calmed himself. Calling Frisk, he went to the front to wait for Chara.

* * *

After 10 minutes, Chara arrived, along with a girl who seemed to be made of green fire. The fire girl introduced herself as Fukufire, and the four of them left for New Home.

"So Chara, just how far is New Home?"

"A bit. We're taking the boat to Hotland, but we still need to get through there and half the 'll reach by tonight."

Rudra was mulling over quite a few things, and didn't really feel like talking.

The boat ride went by in relative silence, with just Fukufire and Chara making small talk.

Rudra looked over at Frisk, who seemed to be tense. He hoped that they wouldn't have another episode.


End file.
